I WISH MY LIFE WERE LIKE A MUSICAL (KING’S HEAD THEATRE)*****

 

By Imogen

Link: https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/i-wish-my-life-were-like-a-musical 

Available until: 12^th May

Lots of people wish their life was more like a musical. It all looks so glamorous up there on the stage. This musical is actually more about wishing you had the life of a musical theatre star than literally wishing that you’re green all over and that a whole city thinks you’re evil and your family is dead and your boyfriend is never going to die and what if he doesn’t age and you do? I’m sure having a toyboy is a lot of fun (I’m too young to have toyboys, boys who are younger than me are so immature) but you don’t actually want them to look like your toyboy.

One of my favourite musical theatre songs is Climbing Uphill/When You Come Home to Me from The Last Five Years, where Cathy is auditioning for a show and thinking about lots of other things at the same time and worrying about everything the audition panel does and wondering why she even does this job. It’s very funny and real. I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical goes even more deeply into how difficult it is being a star and all the suffering caused by your co-stars, the crew, the fans, the stage (which can be dangerous) and everything else which most people probably don’t even think about when they’re enjoying a show.

The four characters, who don’t have names, talk you through all the negative parts of being a big star. Songs that are impossible to sing (not that I’ve found any like that yet), dance routines that injure you (well you have to be prepared to suffer a very small amount for your art), stalkers who just will not leave you alone (I’ve had that since nursery school) and being the poor guy who replaces the big star everyone came to see (there is just a massive irony in hearing that song sung by Luke Bayer, his biggest worry about being announced as someone’s replacement is that the whole audience might die of happiness before he’d even sung a note.)

The composer, lyricist, musical director, co-arranger (with Jerome van den Berg), pianist and who knows what else is Alexander S Bermange. He has captured the onstage and backstage dramas with only very slight exaggerations. The lyrics are quite amusing and contain so much truth. Seriously if you want to know what it’s like to be a Big Star, watch this show. There are a lot of things that could go wrong and not everyone understands your Star Status. The music is fun to sing and full of clever ideas.

Chris Whittaker is the director and choreographer and his cast use the small space well. It doesn’t look like a West End stage but the performers are West End quality and the small space helps them to demonstrate how cramped it can be onstage and how it doesn’t always feel as glamorous as it looks. Some of the choreography looks quite silly because that’s the way choreography does look sometimes when you’re not in proper costumes (it doesn’t exactly come as a surprise to me that no-one is credited as the costume designer) but it’s also impressive enough to show that the four actors are very good.

The four singers are Luke Bayer, Charlotte O’Rourke, Lucas Rush and Charlotte Anne Steen. Which can be another annoying thing when you’re in a play and you’ve got lots of people with the same or similar names and the director gets confused and it’s like is he talking to me or the other Imogen? Luke Bayer was actually in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie with Luke Baker so that must have been confusing.

Luke is so down to earth and he so doesn’t have his head stuck up anywhere rude. He’s sweet and gorgeous and he delivers his songs with humour and in the most incredibly beautiful voice. His sense of character is so good, he can actually make you believe that someone with his talent could be cast as the understudy.

Lucas who my mum saw in Grease years ago when I was busy dating half the population of my infant school is a brilliant character actor who is really charming and has a real gift for comedy. He’s also vocally flexible and can take his music in an almost classical direction. He’s actually quite fit for a character actor, he could totally play leading roles as long as he isn’t up against someone like Luke.

The two Charlottes are equally brilliant. Charlotte O’Rourke has a very versatile voice with a big range and sings in a number of styles. Another great thing is that her sense of musicality is so strong, she can sing off-key and sing wrong notes with great confidence and accuracy if it’s part of the song. Anyone who can’t sing very well can do it by accident but for someone with real ability to sing badly on purpose takes real skill, you almost have to ignore the accompaniment and not let it lead you into singing what you’d expect to be the right note. Charlotte O also has great vocal flexibility and very impressive riffs.

Charlotte Anne Steen kind of plays the role of the person who wants to be a musical theatre star. She has a sweet light voice, she hits the high notes without making you cringe and she shows her character’s innocence in a really convincing way which is quite appealing instead of the really fake way most people do.

If you want to know what it’s like to be a star you’ll learn a lot from this musical. If you’re already a star there’s lots for you to identify with.